Helen Douglas: Chasing Stars

‘This is just such a shock,’ said Miranda. She sat on the edge of the sofa, shaking her head.

Lauren smoothed her hair back again. ‘This must be dreadful for you. I don’t want to upset you. But you should take a look at his will. It spells out clearly his wishes for his body to be repatriated.’ She passed the other document to Miranda.

Miranda glanced over the document and looked at me. ‘We’ll need to cancel the funeral arrangements.’

‘I’ll take care of it.’

‘I’m going to need to take a look around his flat to see what personal effects he left there,’ said Lauren.

‘Of course,’ said Miranda. ‘Eden and I will drive you there.’

‘I have my own car. I’ll follow you.’

‘I’m just going to nip to the bathroom,’ I said, backing out of the sitting room.

I ran up the stairs and into my room, almost tripping over Katkin, the neighbour’s tomcat who seemed to think my bedroom was his second home. I dug my mobile phone out of my bag and speed-dialled Ryan. He answered on the first ring.

‘Missing me already?’ he said.

‘Ryan, listen. There’s a woman here claiming to be Travis’s sister. She wants his body.’

Ryan swore. ‘Are you at home?’

‘Yes. She showed up about five minutes ago. She wants to go to his flat. Miranda and I are going to take her there in a few minutes.’

‘I wasn’t expecting this yet. Has she asked about me?’

‘No. Just Travis. What’s going on, Ryan?’

He hesitated. ‘This woman will be Travis’s cleaner. There’s nothing for you to worry about . . .’

‘The last time a cleaner showed up, I ended up dead,’ I whispered angrily. ‘I’m worried, OK? Really worried. You need to tell me what’s going on.’

‘Travis died on the job, so the Guardians have sent another cleaner to clean things up. She’ll want to erase any trace of him. That’s it. When she’s done that, she’ll leave.’

‘Did you know this would happen?’

‘Yes, but I didn’t expect anyone to show up yet.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘I didn’t want to worry you.’

‘Well, I’m pretty worried now, Ryan. If you’d told me, at least I would have been expecting her.’

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to worry needlessly. I thought we had time. It’s only four days since we portalled out. She took a real risk travelling back so close to when we left. I thought we’d have a few weeks at least.’

‘Eden!’ Miranda shouted up the stairs.

‘Miranda’s calling me,’ I said to Ryan. ‘I have to go.’

‘OK. She’s not here for you or me, just Travis’s body and anything personal to him.’ His tone was soothing and reassuring. ‘There’s no need for you to be anxious. Call me when she’s gone.’

I hung up, pushed my mobile in my jeans pocket and ran back downstairs.

Travis’s flat was above his seafood restaurant in the middle of Perran. The restaurant had been closed since he drowned the previous Sunday. The white blinds were down on both the windows, resting against the black slate windowsills like two shut eyes. Miranda pulled into the small parking space in front of the restaurant. Lauren parked behind us.

‘Are you OK?’ I asked.

Miranda’s face crumpled. ‘No, I’m not. I’m about as far from OK as I’ve ever been in my life. And you know what makes me feel even worse? People asking me if I’m OK. I’m not OK and I’m not going to be OK for a while because that’s the way it is when someone you love dies.’

She wiped her hand across her eyes, smudging black mascara across her cheekbones.

I grabbed a tissue from the box in the glove compartment and passed it to her. ‘I’m sorry. I just don’t know what to say.’

‘So don’t say anything. Accept that this is horrible, but we’ll live through it because people do.’

Lauren was standing outside the restaurant, peering at the menu posted in the window.

‘Miranda,’ I said. I paused, choosing what I said next carefully. ‘I don’t trust this woman.’

‘We don’t have a choice, Eden. From the look of her documents she is who she says she is. We could refuse to let her in and make her go to a lawyer and all that, but then Travis wouldn’t be laid to rest for weeks. Nothing is going to bring him back.’

‘Let’s just not tell her any more than we have to. Let’s get rid of her as fast as we can.’

Miranda nodded silently and reached for her door handle.

‘Is this his restaurant?’ asked Lauren.

‘Yes. It’s very popular,’ said Miranda. ‘Travis was an amazing chef. But I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that.’

‘My brother was a man of many talents.’

Miranda unlocked the black door next to the restaurant and we climbed the stairs to his first floor flat in single file. Halfway up the stairs I realised that Lauren was behind us and my heart began juddering in my chest. Was she corralling us into Travis’s flat so she could finish us off? I stepped aside at the top of the stairs to let her in first.

‘After you,’ I said.

I had never been to Travis’s flat before. The door opened on to a large living room with views over the harbour. It was sparsely furnished, with just a single couch, a coffee table and a lamp. It reminded me of Ryan’s farmhouse – furnished just enough to be comfortable for a short stay.

‘We’ll go home and give you some privacy,’ said Miranda. ‘You can just drop the key at the solicitors’ office when you’re done.’

‘I won’t be long,’ said Lauren. ‘And I might have a few questions. Would you mind waiting outside?’

Miranda and I walked back down the stairs and into the hazy sunshine. We crossed the road and sat on a bench with a view over the harbour.

She dabbed at the corner of her eyes with a tissue. Neither of us said anything for a moment. I watched a seagull swoop down and snatch an ice-cream cone from a child’s hand.

‘I can’t stay around here,’ she said suddenly.

‘What do you mean?’

‘You heard what the woman said. She’s taking Travis’s body back to America with her. There won’t be a funeral or anything.’

I wished I knew what to say.

Miranda dabbed her eyes again. ‘I don’t want to sit around the house thinking about him. I have to get away.’

‘OK. Where do you want to go?’

‘I think I’ll drive up to Bath and stay with Tanya for a few days.’

I felt a weight lift from my shoulders. I loved Miranda to bits. She’d raised me ever since my parents died in a car crash ten years ago. But Tanya was Miranda’s best friend. She’d know the right things to say. She’d be much better at helping Miranda through this than I was.

‘When do we leave?’

Miranda put a hand on my arm. ‘Do you think you could manage a few days here alone? I need to get away from . . . everything.’

My heart constricted. Did she blame me for Travis’s death? He’d been trying to kill me, but Miranda believed he’d been trying to save me.

‘I’ll be fine,’ I said. My voice croaked.

‘You’ve never been on your own before.’

‘I’m nearly seventeen.’

‘I’ll ask Mrs Grady to look in on you.’

‘You don’t need to do that.’

Miranda managed a small smile. ‘It’s OK for Ryan to come over, but promise me that you’ll be careful.’

I felt my face heat up. ‘OK,’ I said, turning my head in the opposite direction, just as Lauren began marching across the road towards us.

‘My brother didn’t collect many possessions, did he?’ said Lauren. ‘I take it the flat and the restaurant are rentals?’

‘Yes,’ said Miranda. ‘The only item of value he owned was his car.’

‘I will arrange for the car to be sold and any furniture to be given to charity. Unless you want any of it.’